VATICAN - President Obama’s first meeting with Pope Francis produced a little schism of its own. The Vatican and White House gave starkly different versions Thursday of Mr Obama’s meeting with Francis. The president’s account downplayed the Catholic Church’s concerns about religious freedom in the United States and Obamacare’s mandate to pay for contraception.

USA - A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck suburban Los Angeles on Friday evening, rattling a wide swath of Southern California, breaking water mains in a nearby community and prompting Disneyland to shut down rides. There were no reports of injury or substantial structural damage from the quake, which was centered outside the city of La Habra, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and hit at 9:09 pm on Friday (12:09 am EDT on Saturday), according to the US Geological Survey. "Tonight's earthquake is the second in two weeks, and reminds us to be prepared," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a written statement released about an hour after the shaking stopped.

SAUDI ARABIA - US President Barack Obama reportedly promised Saudi King Abdullah that the United States would not accept a “bad deal” with Iran, an American official said Friday. According to Reuters, the official said that Obama and the King discussed "tactical differences" in their approach to some issues during a meeting in Riyadh on Friday, but agreed both sides remain strategically aligned. The US and Saudi Arabia had a falling out in recent months over the Obama administration's foreign policy, particularly over Syria and Iran.

UK - David Cameron has hailed the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales as sending a "powerful message" about equality in Britain. The law changed at midnight, with a number of gay couples vying to claim the title of being the first to be married in Britain by trying to time it perfectly so their vows were said just seconds after the clock struck midnight. The prime minister said the reform was necessary because "when people's love is divided by law, it is that law that needs to change". Writing in Pink News he said "this weekend is an important moment" because "we will at last have equal marriage in our country".

EUROPE - Venice just held a 'non-binding' referendum on whether the city should once again become an independent city-state and secede from Italy. An astonishing 89% voted 'yes' (which makes the outcome of the Crimea referendum no longer look 'strangely one-sided'). This happens just as Scotland's vote whether to remain part of the UK is approaching and Catalonia is preparing to vote whether to remain with Spain. And while the Scottish and Catalan pro-independence forces are toying with the idea of joining the EU, there is another part of Italy that wants to secede as well and wants to definitely get out of the EU – in fact, this goal appears to be one of its motives. The island of Sardinia – which contrary to Venice is actually quite a poor place – wants to leave Italy and join Switzerland instead.

USA - NCIS and its sibling NCIS: Los Angeles are the top-rated dramas on television, a distinction they have held for several years. But what exactly are so many Americans watching — and rooting for — when they tune in for these TV shows? A closer look reveals that both series are uncomfortably akin to a cheering section for the NSA: The shows depict a world in which terrorists planning mass slaughter are under every bed, in which viewers root for the good-looking, wisecracking agents to smash down doors without warrants; in which super-advanced electronic surveillance is used exclusively to protect the public. In the NCIS version of reality, we’ll all die unless powerful government agencies treat the United States Constitution like a big joke.

GERMANY - Since their partial Ukrainian success in the power struggle over the ring of countries separating Russia's borders from those of the EU, Berlin and Brussels have been stepping up their efforts to integrate Georgia into their hegemonic system. The EU is calling on Georgia - a country geostrategists accord great importance not only for Russia's encirclement, but for European access to Asia - to sign the EU Association Agreement in June, ahead of schedule.

EUROPE - The EU must ensure non-eurozone countries, such as the UK, are legally protected in the event of further European integration, the finance minister of Germany has said. Chancellor George Osborne and his German counterpart said any changes to EU treaties must "guarantee fairness". Writing in the Financial Times, the pair say non-eurozone nations must not be put at a "systematic disadvantage". It comes a month after Germany's leader Angela Merkel visited the UK.

USA - Researchers have chopped, spliced and manipulated DNA to craft the first extensively modified "designer chromosome," a genetic structure carefully engineered to spur scientific discovery. The work is being hailed as a bioengineering feat and an important step toward producing a complex organism - in this case brewer's yeast - with a custom-made synthetic genome, or genetic blueprint. The research paves the way for producing new medicines and even biofuels from life forms with artificial chromosomes. Artificial chromosomes have been built before, but those were relatively faithful copies of natural chromosomes, the tiny thread-like structures made of tightly packed DNA that serve as the body's blueprints. By contrast, the new chromosome is a product of purposeful tinkering, but the yeast that carry it act like normal yeast.

USA - In a study of more than 1,000 Chinese women, those who ate the most cruciferous vegetables had substantially less inflammation than those who ate the fewest. Cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, broccoli, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, kale and cauliflower, and eating them is often encouraged as a way to lower risk for heart disease and cancer. Based on their findings, the study authors say the health benefits of these vegetables may be at least partly a result of their anti-inflammatory effects. Inflammation is thought to be part of a cycle that promotes heart disease, and heart disease in turn promotes more inflammation.

UK -Why should it be the stuff of headlines that Pope Francis has warned the Mafia that they will go to Hell unless they repent? Isn’t it obvious anyway? It is the word Hell and its associated notion of judgment that has sparked the interest because there is now a culture in the West whereby the Devil, Hell and the Last Judgment are not regarded as mentionable in polite society. Such concepts are viewed as too disturbing: we should instead preach love and an assured entry into Heaven for all.

USA - It's scary to think the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, with its relentless drought and wind that ravaged millions of acres in West Texas, could return. But there are some worrisome signs, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

USA - The United States spends more on its military than any other country in the world. In fact, it spends more than China, Russia, the UK, Japan, France and Saudi Arabia combined. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to “smart” spending. Take the F-35, a $199-million, Lockheed Martin-designed jet that the Pentagon initially commissioned in 2001. It’s a $400 billion project that’s nearly seven years behind schedule and $163 billion over budget. And here’s the kicker: According to a 41-page Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released yesterday, the F-35, which has yet to fly a single official mission, will stay grounded for at least another 13 months because of “problems completing software testing.”

USA - At a hospital in Pittsburgh, surgeons are now allowed to place patients into a state of suspended animation. If a patient arrives with a traumatic injury, and attempts to restart their heart have failed — if they’re on the doorstep of death — they will have their blood replaced with a cold saline solution, which stops almost all cellular activity. At this point, the patient is clinically dead — but if the doctors can fix the injury within a few hours, they can be returned to life from suspended animation by replacing the saline with blood.

SWITZERLAND - UBS AG (UBSN) suspended foreign-exchange traders in the US, Singapore and Switzerland as its investigation into the alleged rigging of currency markets widened, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. They include Onur Sert, an emerging-markets spot trader based in New York, and at least three more worldwide, said the person, who asked not to be identified because of the probe. Sert and Dominik von Arx, a spokesman for UBS in London, both declined to comment on the suspensions. Switzerland’s largest bank opened a review of its currency operations last year after Bloomberg News reported in June that traders in the industry had colluded to rig the WM/Reuters rates, a benchmark used by investors and companies around the world.